Trump to announce $22bn plan to rebuild Dulles international airport

Donald Trump is due to announce a $22bn plan to rebuild Washington’s Dulles international airport on Wednesday after the US president personally weighed in on the design of the capital’s main international gateway.

A White House official confirmed an announcement would be made, after CBS News reported that Trump had scrutinized 3D models from contractors competing to carry out the overhaul at the White House, and offered proposed changes.

An announcement is scheduled for 3pm at the White House, where Trump will be joined by Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, Scott Kirby, United Airlines chief executive, and officials from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), which operates the airport under a 50-year lease from Congress.

The planned overhaul of Dulles forms part of a broader pattern of Trump personally directing changes to Washington, from a proposed White House ballroom to a planned 250ft arch.

Unlike some of those projects, the president’s push to remake Dulles has drawn a more tepid response, given longstanding complaints about the airport’s distance from the city, its jet-fuel-scented concourses, and its reliance on ageing shuttle vehicles.

The scheme is expected to include five new terminals to replace the airport’s existing four, with the underground train system expanded so passengers no longer need Dulles’s much-maligned “mobile lounges” – the slow-moving shuttles that ferry travelers across the tarmac to their gates. A new underground pedestrian tunnel and additional moving walkways are also planned.

People briefed on the proposal said the approved design leans on glass and gold, including gold-mirrored ceilings throughout the terminals.

United, which handles roughly 70% of traffic at Dulles, has agreed to help finance the project, which is expected to take years and cost more than $20bn, according to the Washington Post. MWAA is expected to fund much of the work through new bond issuances, and had already approved a separate $7bn capital plan for the airport in 2025.

United and MWAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the airport, telling reporters in December that Dulles “should be a great airport” but “it’s a terrible airport”.

Complaints about Dulles sharpened last November when a mobile lounge collided with a concourse dock, injuring at least 18 people. A Trump-appointed MWAA board member later cited the crash as further reason to retire the shuttles.

Dulles handled a record 29 million passengers in 2025, up 6.4% on the previous year, and is set to open a new 14-gate concourse for United this autumn.